10/02/2016 Prime Minister's Questions

Questions to the Prime Minister Number one, Mr Speaker.

I know the House has been s`ddened by the death of Harry Harper,

after a great career, an adviser to David Blunkett,

he was returned to this place last May, succeeding

He was in this place a short time and became a popular MP,

recognised for his commitment to his constituents and his beliefs.

He continued to carry out hhs work, as an MP, throughout his trdatment,

we offer his wife and their five children our condolences.

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues

and in additional to my duthes in this House, I will have

I would like to agree about the sad loss for the Member for Sheffield

and Hillsborough, he came to this House with an excellent record

in local government and will be sadly missed.

The whole House send our condolences to his family at this sad thme.

Housing is the number one issue in my constituency,

queries on a workable local plan, looking after our green spaces

and strongly offering the Conservative value of the right

to buy, would the Prime Minhster agree that the help to buy HSAs

with one being taken out every 30 seconds,

is the right way to promote savings and encourage homeownership?

I agree, that is why these help to buy ISAs,

where we match the money thdy put in, it can really help,

and so what we have seen under this government,

is 40,000 people exercise their right to buy their cotncil

house, now we're extending that to all housing association tenants

and we have seen 130,000 people with help to buy,

getting the first flat or the first house, and there is more to do,

mostly building houses, but helping people with their deposits hs vital.

I join the Prime Minister and the member for Eastleigh

in paying tribute to Harry Harper, the honourable member for Sheffield

and Hillsborough, a former liner who passed away last week,

just a short time ago Harry used his last question here to ask

the Prime Minister questions about the Sheffield Masters

on his diligence regarding that part of his committee.

I said to his wife, how would they like to remember Harry?

She said, we have admired the bravery and carriage he showed

She said, we have admired the bravery and courage he showed

in his life, which was formdd during the miners' strike

and which carried him forward for the rest of his life.

People will remember him as a decent man, and we are very sad

Mr Speaker, also following the member for Eastleigh,

I have an e-mail from Rosie, she's in her 20s.

Unfortunately, the Rosie who has written to me

does not have the same good housing that the Chief Whip

The Rosie who has written to me she's in 20s and she says,

and I'm still having to livd at home with my parents,"

the lack of housing options are forcing her to

She asks the Prime Minister, what action he is going to take

to help young people and falilies suffering from unrealistic house

prices and uncapped rents to get somewhere safe and secure to live?

When you get a letter from the Chief Whip,

that normally spells trouble, I should say.

What I would say to Rosie, we want to do everything we can

to help young people get on the housing ladder,

that is why we have these help to save ISAs and I hopd

she is looking at that, we are cutting taxes and shd will be

able to earn ?11,000 before she starts paying any taxes.

If Rosie is a tenant in a housing association hole,

she can buy that home, because we are introducing

and extending the right to buy, and with help to buy

she will have the opportunity to register for help to buy,

which gives people the chance to have a small deposit,

but still a chance of owning their own home.

If she wants to be a homeowner, shared ownership can make a real

difference and in some parts of the country you will need

a deposit of just a few thotsand pounds to begin the process

of becoming a homeowner, but I realise that building

more houses, we have got to deliver for Rosie.

I'm very pleased that the Prime Minister would like to help deliver

decent housing, Rosie lives and works in London,

as the Prime Minister knows, London is very expensive.

He talks about people getting on the housing ladder,

but the reality is, home ownership has fallen under his governlent

by 200,000 and it rose by a million under the last Labour government,

and his record is one of actually some years of failure on hotsing.

He said that council homes sold on the right to buy would bd

replaced like for like, can the Prime Minister tell us

What happened under Labour, one council home was built for every

We have said we will make stre that two homes are built for every

council home in London that is sold that is because the member

for Richmond insisted on th`t in an amendment to the Houshng Bill.

These take some years to buhld, but the money which which

they will be built, the mondy comes back to the Treasury.

The Prime Minister should bd aware that just one home has been built

for every eight that have bden sold under his government.

People are increasingly finding it very difficult

The Chancellor's crude cuts in housing benefit for thosd

in supported housing, they are putting at risk hundreds

people with mental health conditions,

war veterans and women fleehng domestic violence who need support.

Can the Prime Minister tell the House what estimate housing

providers have made in terms of the impact of this policx

We are going to increase hotsing supply in the social sector

by an ?8 billion housing budget during this Parliament

which will build 400,000 affordable homes.

When it comes to our reforms of housing benefit, yes,

we have cut housing benefit, because it was out of control

There were families in London who were getting ?100,000

Think how many people, think how many Rosies

just to provide that housing benefit for one family.

We support supported housing schemes and we will look very careftlly

to make sure they can work well in the future,

but I make no apology for the fact that in this Parliament

we are cutting social rents, so for Rosie, for example,

living in social housing, going out to work but she whll have

I'm pleased the Prime Minister got onto the question

Housing providers estimate that nearly half of all supported housing

schemes will close, one in four providers are set to close

all of their provision, this is a very serious crishs.

I assume the Prime Minister is not content for people with mental

health conditions to have nowhere to live,

that the warm words he has given on supported housing will bd matched

by action and he will stop this cut which will destroy this

We will continue to support the supported housing sector

and the report that he quotds from, it was an opinion poll

with an extremely leading qtestion, if he actually looks

The changes that we are makhng, reducing social rents by 1%,

every year for four years, that is good news for peopld who go

out to work and work hard and like to pay less rent.

That goes with the lower taxes they will be paying and the more

childcare they will be getthng, and the other change we are making

which does not come into force until 2018, is to make sure

that we are not paying houshng benefit to social tenants

way above what we would pay to private sector tenants.

The simple point is this, and this is where I think L`bour

have got to focus, every penny you spend on housing subsidy

is money you can't spend on building houses.

Let's take this right back to Rosie in the beginning,

if she would like a country where we build homes,

that she would like a country where she can buy a home,

she would like a country with a strong economy so yot can

afford to buy a home, all of those things we are delivering,

but you will not deliver thdse if you go on subsidising hotsing,

and the welfare benefit, one day Labour has got to rdalise

that the welfare system has got to be brought under control.

Shelter estimates that the leasures in the Housing Bill will lose

180,000 affordable homes ovdr the next four years.

The Prime Minister is oversdeing a very damaging housing crisis,

it is pricing out people from buying, it is not provhding

enough social housing, therefore many people are forced

to rely on the private rented sector.

The benches behind him recently voted against an amendment put

forward by my honourable friend for homes to be fit

homes up to a decent homes standard, and there are now 11 million people

in this country who are private renters.

Does the Prime Minister know how many of those homes do not leet

To listen to Labour, when in the last five years,

we built more council houses than they built in 13 years.

13 years and a hopeless record on housing.

What we are doing is an ?8 billion housing budget, that will provide

400,000 new affordable homes and a target to build a million

homes during this Parliament, getting housing benefit down

so we can spend money on hotsing and having a strong economy that can

Mr Speaker, I was asking through you, the Prime Minister

how many of the 11 million renters are living in homes that ard not

going to make the decent holes standard and therefore

1000 of those in the privatd rented sector do not meet that standard

One third of those in the private rented sector do not meet that

standard and Shelter found six out of ten renters have issues

like damp, mould, leaking roofs and windows, it is simply

Millions are struggling to get the homes they deserve,

more families slipping into temporary accommodation,

homelessness rising, too few homes being built,

social housing under pressure, families forced into low st`ndard,

an overpriced rental sector, young people unable to move out

of the family home and start their own lives,

when is the Prime Minister going to realise that there

is a housing crisis in Brit`in, and his government needs to address

it now, so that we do not continue with this dreadful situation

Homelessness is less than h`lf the peak today than it was tnder

You can only invest in new houses, you can only restore existing

houses, you can any build ndw houses and support people into those houses

houses, you can only build new houses and support people

into those houses if you have a strong economy.

We inherited mass unemploymdnt, an economy that completely

collapsed, a banking crisis and now we've got zero inflation,

wages growing, unemployment at %, and economy growing and people able,

for the first time, to look to their future and see thex can buy

Mr Speaker, Nadia was a 19-year-old

They killed most of her famhly. They tortured her, they raped her and

they made her there a slave. Nadia's story is the same

as thousands of Yazidi women except thousands are still held

in captivity and Nadia escaped. In fact, Nadia is in

the public gallery today. Will the Prime Minister join me

in accepting acknowledging Will the Prime Minister

join me in acknowledging Nadia's bravery and resilience

and the qualities that Let me thank my friend for raising

this issue and welcome Nadi`, She and the Yazidi communitx have

suffered appallingly at this murderous, brutal, fascist

organisation in Syria and Iraq. We must do everything we can

to defeat Daesh and its ideology. We are playing a leading role

in this global coalition. In terms of Iraq, where so lany

Yazidis suffered, Daesh havd lost As I said at the time

in the debate about Syria, Building up Iraqi security forces,

working with Syrian opposithon forces, building the capacity

of governments in both countries to drive this organisation

out of the Middle East. However long it takes,

we must stick at it. We on these benches join

in the condolences in relathon to Harry and pass on our condolences

at this sad time to his famhly. The Prime Minister made a vow

and his party signed an agrdement that there would be

no detriment to Scotland Why is the UK Treasury proposing

plans that may be detriment`l towards Scotland

to the tune of ?3 billion? First of all, we accept the Smith

principles of no detriment. No detriment to Scotland at the time

when this transfer is made. And then no detriment

of Scottish taxpayers, but also to the rest

of the United Kingdom taxpaxers I have had good negotiations

with the First Minister, I want us to successfully complete

this very important piece of devolution in a fair

and reasonable way and thesd Let me remind

the right honourable gentlelan, if we had had full fiscal

devolution, with oil revenues

having collapsed by 94%, then the right honourable gdntleman

and his party would be weeks away from a financial

calamity for Scotland. In the context of a referendum

referendums, whether in Scotland or across the UK EU membership,

don't voters have a right to know what is promised by the UK

government can be trusted Will the Prime Minister tell

the Treasury that time is running out for delivering a fair

fiscal framework and that they must agree a deal that is fair,

both to the people of Scotl`nd and fair to the rest

of the United Kingdom? I can tell him everything that has

been committed to by this government We committed to this huge act

of devolution to Scotland We committed to the Scotland Bill

and we are well on the way All the things we said we would

including those vital princhples. There are ongoing

negotiations to reach a fair settlement and I would say

to the Scottish First Minister and the Scottish Finance

Minister they have to recognise there must be fairness

across the United Kingdom, too. But, with goodwill,

I can tell you, Mr Speaker, no-one is keener

on agreement than me. I want the Scottish National Party

here and in Holyrood What are you going

to do with benefits? I want to get rid of, frankly,

this grievance agenda and ldt you get on with the governing

agenda and then we can see The skills shortage

in engineering in Wiltshire It is threatening and underlining

all the work we have done in job creation and also in

supporting businesses. It is quite simply

a ticking timebomb. May I ask the Prime Minister

what more can he do to remove the stigma, misunderstanding

and all the problems associ`ted around STEM subjects

and STEM careers. friend is in absolutely

right to raise this. There are special circumstances

in Wiltshire because you've got the enormous success

of Dyson which is hiring engineers and skilled mathematicians

and scientists from every university in the country and long

may that continue. What we will do is help by training

three million apprentices in this We are giving special

help to teachers of STEM subjects and encouraging

them into teaching. But I think there is a lot that

business and industry can do to help us end this by going into schools

and talking about what his lodern engineering careers are all about,

how much fulfilment people can get from these careers,

to encourage people to change the culture when it

comes to pursuing Young people are losing thehr homes,

winning are denied pensions they were expecting

and increasingly, the needy left exposed without the social care

they need to live a decent life When will the Prime

Minister addressed What we are doing for pensioners

is putting in place the triple lock so that every

pensioner knows there can ndver be another shameful 75p increase

in the pension which we saw under They know that every year,

it will either be wages, And that is why

the pension is so much higher than when I

became Prime Minister. But of course we need to make sure

there is a fair settlement for local government, too,

and we will be hearing more But this ability of local

councils to raise special council tax for social

care will help an area The Spitfire was a crucial hmplement

in winning the Battle of Brhtain And keeping our country

free from tyranny. However, there are some who fear

that our independent nuclear deterrent could be as

obsolete as the Spitfire. Could my right honourable

friend the Prime Minister assure the House and the cotntry

that this is not the case? It takes quite a talent

in the Shadow Defence Secretary to insult Spitfird pilots

and our brave submariners all in one Another week, another

completely ludicrous Labour I think the last word should go

to the honourable member for Bridgend and thank you,

Twitter, for this one, who, as she came out of the PLP

meeting, tweeted this - "Need to go to rest

in a darkened room." I expect she will find the rest

of her party will be there with her. At today's bid select committee

the Business Secretary confhrmed that the government

won't support the EU commission in raising

tariffs on dumped steel Why won't the UK Government

stand up for UK steel? We have repeatedly

stood up for UK steel, including supporting taking

anti-dumping measures in thd EU We also need to get behind public

procurement for steel. We need to get behind reduchng

energy bills for steel. We need to support

communities like his And that is exactly

what we are doing. We recognise what a vital p`rt

of Britain's industrial basd the steel industry is and that is

why we are backing it. Julian Assange is accused

of rape and is on the run. Despite this, the United Nations

panel that nobody has ever heard of declared last week

that she has been arbitrarily detained and solehow

deserving of compensation. Does my right honourable

friend agree with me that this was a nonsensical

decision, that Mr Assange should hand himself over to the Swddish

prosecutors, and that if anxone is deserving of compensation,

it is the British taxpayer who has had to pay ?12 million

to police his Ecuadorian My honourable friend

is absolutely right. I think this was a

ridiculous decision. You've got a man with

an outstanding allegation He barricaded himself

into the Ecuadorian Embassy and yet claims he was

arbitrarily detained. The only person who detained

himself was himself. So, what he should do is cole out

of that Embassy and face thd arrest He is being asked to stand trial

in Sweden, a country with a fair reputation for justice and ht should

bring to an end this whole sorry Women's aid groups have raised

serious concerns about houshng benefit making the closure

of many refuges. Will the Prime Minister

undertake to specifically exclude refuges from these leasures

and protect these vital services I said in answers to questions

from the Leader of the Opposition we want to support supported

housing projects that work And we have all seen

how important they are. These changes we are

talking about, about housing benefit, don't actu`lly come

into place until 2018 so there is plenty of time

to make sure that we Next month, Milton Keynes

will host the first ever We have strong record

in expanding apprenticeships. But is there not still a nedd

for a cultural shift in carders advice to show that high-level

apprenticeships are equally valid I think my honourable friend

is absolutely right, the careers advice

we need to give young people is that there is a choice

for every school either of dither a university place, because we have

uncapped university places, or an apprenticeship

because we are funding 3 million And we need to go on to explain that

if you become an apprentice, that doesn't rule out doing

a degree or a degree level litigation later on during

your apprenticeship. The option of earning and ldarning

is stronger in Britain todax than it Does the Prime Minister agrded that

how we protect human rights in the legal systems

of the United Kingdom deserves full And will he give

an assurance that his consultation on the Human Rhghts Act

will not conflict with the pre-election

period since Scotland and the other devolved

administrations? We will look very carefully

at all of these issues but I would say to

the honourable lady and to honourable members opposite,

the idea that there were no human rights in Britain before

the Human Rights Act This House has been a great Bastian

and defender of human rights. But we will look very careftlly

at the timing of any Mr Speaker, I spent most

of my working life in children's hospices who rely heavily

on donations from organisathons like Children in Need

who have a long proud association with

the town of Pudsey. Last week, Children in Need's most

famous celebrity sadly Would my right honourable friend

join me and the people of Ptdsey in paying tribute to

Sir Terry Wogan who did so luch to inspire millions of pounds to be

donated to these courses? And the honourable

member representing his constituency where Pudsdy has

such a connection with Children in Need is absolutely

right to raise this. I think Terry Wogan was one

of the great icons of this country. I think, like many people in this

House, you sort of felt you grew up with him, listening to him

on the radio, in the car, or presenting Blankety Blank,

or all the other things he did. Perhaps many people's favourite

was the Eurovision Song Contest which every year he brought

such great humour to. You didn't have to be a Tog to be

to be an enormous fan. I think we were all fans

and he will be hugely And his work with Children hn Need

was particularly special. Mr Speaker, Sir,

on Monday, I attended the Work and Pensions tribunal

appeal hearing for my consthtuent Mrs Jackie Millen, a brave,

inspiring woman with dwarfism, who despite being unable

to climb staircases, was awarded zero disability

points by her assessor. Can I ask the Prime

Minister whether he has, as a constituency MP, himself,

attended any tribunal hearings? And if so, whether

he found the process I'm very happy to look

into the specific case he r`ises. As a constituency MP,

of course I have people coming to my surgery

with enquiries either about employment support

or indeed about disability And also, I've got the experience,

having had a disabled son of selling out all the forms

myself and I am looking forward to the new system,

which I think with a proper medical So, I have listened

to these arguments but we have to have a system

of adjudication that is inddpendent Growing up nearby, I always knew

that I was nearly home when I saw the iconic cooling towers

of the power stations On Monday, the owners

of the remaining power stathon announced its likely

closure this summer. Will my right honourable frhend ask

the Secretary of State to mdet with me and discuss further

the government support that can be provided to the 150 workers

and the provisions that can be made to ensure the site is redevdloped

as quickly as possible? I will certainly arrange

for that meeting to take place and we should thank

everyone who has worked at power stations that then come to the end

of their lives for the work they have done to give

us a electricity, to keep the lights on,

to keep our economy moving. But I think she is absolutely

right, as the power station comes to the end

of its life, we must make stre that proper redevelopment

takes place so we provide jobs for

constituents like hers. The Football Supporters' Federation

is considering calling on f`ns to hold mass walk-outs

to get their voices heard Will the Prime Minister act to give

fans a place at the table in club boardrooms in order that

their voices can be heard when issues such as ticket prices

are being discussed? I will look very carefully

at the suggestion the honourable I think there is a problem

here where some teams and some clubs put up prices

very rapidly every year, even though so much

of the money for football comes through the sponsorship

and the equipment and So, I will look very

carefully at what he says. The vital debate and

vote on the Trident successor submarine should have been

held in the last parliament but was blocked by

the Liberal Democrats. Given the fun that the Primd

Minister had a few moments `go at the Labour Party's expense over

Trident's successor, it must be tempting for him

to put off the vote until Labour's

conference in October. May I urge him, however,

to do the statesman-like thhng and hold that vote

as soon as possible because everyone is ready for it

and everyone is expecting it. What we should do is

have the vote when we need to have the vote

and that is exactly what we will do. But no one should be

in any doubt that this government is going to press ahead

with all the decisions that are necessary to

replace in full hour I think the Labour Party

should listen to Lord Hutton who was the Defence Secretary

for many years, and he says this: "If Labour wants to retain `ny

credibility on defence, "it had better recognise

the abject futility "of what its leadership

is currently proposing." So, I hope that when that vote

comes, we will have support from right across this

House of Commons. In light of today's damning

National Audit Office report on teacher shortages,

will the Prime Minister now take urgent steps to help excelldnt

schools such as those in my constituency recruit

and crucially retain the best teachers, including

by extending the so-called inner London weighting to all Harrow

schools and indeed other suburban Obviously, we will look

carefully at this There are 13,100 more teachdrs

in our schools than when I became Our teachers are better

qualified than ever People are shouting out

about increased pupil numbers but we've got 47,500 fewer pupils

in overcrowded schools than in 010 because we put the investment

in where it was needed. But where I agree with

the honourable and is we do need schemes like Teach First,

like our national leadership row gram and are getting

some of the best teachers into the schools where

they are most needed. My right honourable friend

the Prime Minister deserves great credit for the results

of the Syria reply measurement conference

which was held under his But he will be aware this c`n only

address the symptoms of the catastrophe that is Syria

today and not the causes. Can he tell the House what lore

he thinks the British government can do to try and promote the political

tract and ensure it reaches the most Firstly, can I thank my honourable

friend for what he says It gives me the opportunity

to thank my co-host, the Norwegians, the Germans,

the Kuwaitis and the Secret`ry We raised in one day more money

than has ever been raised at one of these conferences ever

in history, over $10 billion. And I want to pay

tribute to my right honourable friend the Secretary

of State for DFID who did a lot This money helps

because it will keep people in the region,

it will keep people fed, clothed, make sure they get

the medicine that they need. We go on working with all of our

partners to deliver this. But it does require all countries,

including Russia, to recognhse the need for moderate

Sunni a position to be at the table to creatd

a transitional authority in Syria. Without that, I fear we will end up

with a situation where we h`ve Assad in one corner and Daesh in `nother

corner, the worst possible outcome in terms of terrorism,

the worst possible outcome hn terms of refugees, and the worst possible

outcome for the future of Sxria I'm sure the Prime

Minister is looking As the UK City of Culture,

we are already backed by many prestigious organisations

like the BBC and the What we could do much better to make

this a real national celebration of culture,

will the Prime Minister join with me in urging the many London b`sed

National arts organisations to actually do their

bit and contribute I think the honourable

lady makes a very important point which is our

national cultural institutions have immense amount of work and prestige

that they can bring out two regional galleries and regional centres

when there is a City of Culture I will be looking forward

to visiting Hull. I know my honourable friends,

as the city of Wilberforce, you will want to be joining me

in the city of Hull. It is a city of poets,

Andrew Marvell, home And sometimes one might

like to contemplate what it looks